A new survey reveals the typical million-dollar HDB buyer in Singapore — including a surprising buying trend

Most Singaporeans have encountered headline-grabbing articles about the rising numbers of million-dollar flats, or eye-watering amounts of money that some homeowners seem willing to pay for specific resale flats.

If you’ve ever wondered who these buyers are, and what propelled them to fork out over a million dollars for public housing, a consumer survey by PropNex Singapore gives us a clearer picture.

This consumer survey of recent million-dollar flat buyers was conducted by PropNex agents who were instrumental in closing 110 million-dollar HDB resale transactions in 2025. 

The buyer characteristics were provided by these agents, who drew on their interaction with the buyers.

As the number of resale flat transactions crossing seven figures steadily increased over the years, 2025 saw a sharp increase in such transactions. 

So far this year, from Jan 1 to July 16, there were at least 1,002 resale flats that transacted for at least $1 million, according to transaction data.

This means that we are on track to meet or exceed the record 1,593 million-dollar flat sales that was recorded in the entire 2025.

But while there is no shortage of transaction data on million-dollar resale flats, there is almost nothing on who bought them or why. 

For property agencies like PropNex, getting to the bottom of understanding why a growing number of homeowners are willing to pay top dollar for public housing helps dispel assumptions.

According to Kelvin Fong, CEO of PropNex, the company took the initiative to find out rather than speculate. “We reached out to our salespersons who closed these deals in 2025 and gathered responses reflecting 110 such transactions, a modest base that we hope to build on and sharpen over time,” he says.

He cautions that these initial findings shouldn’t be overstated, but they nonetheless offer useful ground-level perspectives on this prominent group of buyers.

It was found that while buyers cut across different age groups, a significant proportion of the transactions, about 71 per cent, were from buyers aged 30–39 and 40–49 years old. In addition, about seven in 10 of the million-dollar HDB resale flat buyers were in white collar professionals in PMET (professional, managerial, executive, technical) roles.

When it came to monthly household income, 35.5per cent of buyers, which form the largest single band, earned between $10,001 and $16,000 a month. A further 20.0 per cent earned $16,001 to $20,000, while 3.6 per cent earned $20,001 to $25,000, and 2.7 per cent earned above $25,000.

On the other hand, 11.8 per cent earned between $5,000 and $10,000, and 0.9 per cent below $5,000.

PropNex did caution that these household income ranges should be viewed as indicative, since their salespersons were unsure of the household income or the buyer did not disclose such personal financial details.

However, those aged between 50 to 59 years who bought the flats as retirement homes comprise 24.5 per cent of the transactions. 

From this buyer pool, 30.8 per cent of buyers had downsized from a private home, while 15.4 per cent had relocated from a larger HDB flat.

For buyers aged 60 years and above (mostly retirees), 71.4 per cent have downsized from a private home before purchasing the million-dollar HDB resale flat as their replacement home.

The million-dollar resale flats purchased by this group of buyers were four-room flats with resale prices ranging from $1.0 million to $1.328 million.

Larger flat types driving momentum for million-dollar deals

Unexpectedly, the survey also uncovered that four-room resale flats were the most popular type of million-dollar transactions, accounting for 42.7 per cent of the deals, followed by 35.5 per cent for five-room flats, 20 per cent for executive flats, and 1.8 per cent for jumbo flats.

Anecdotally, it was assumed that the bulk of million-dollar resale transactions involved five-room flats. 

This is because their relatively larger size corresponds with higher selling prices, while the relative scarcity of five-room flats compared to four-room flats helped support the higher asking prices.

Wong Siew Ying, Head of Research and Content at PropNex, says that the latest survey findings reiterate that flats — even million-dollar flats — serve different purposes based on the buyers’ life stages. 

“For younger buyers, a million-dollar resale flat may be an aspirational first home. For mid-career families, it could be an upgrading pathway that stays within the public housing segment,” says Wong.

On the other hand, for older buyers, it may often be a right-sizing move, one that potentially trades unit size for location and convenience, whether they are coming from a private home or a larger flat.

Centrally-located and mature housing estates appeal the most to first-time buyers and upgraders

For first-time homebuyers aged 30 to 39, the type of million-dollar flats that this group usually purchased were four-room, five-room, executive, and jumbo flats in towns such as Bukit Merah, Kallang Whampoa, Queenstown, and Toa Payoh. 

The units that these buyers usually purchased range from $1 million to $1.659 million.

For upgraders in the 40 to 49-year-old age group, they were split between OCR and RCR in locations including Bishan, Bukit Merah, Clementi, Geylang, Serangoon, Tampines, and Toa Payoh. 

They bought five-room and executive flats priced between $1.0 million to $1.38 million. 

The million-dollar sales facilitated by PropNex agents last year included units at:

• Alkaff Courtview in Bidadari Park Drive
• Clementi Crest on Clementi Ave 3
• Park Central at Ang Mo Kio St 22
• The Peak @ Toa Payoh along Lor 1A Toa Payoh
• Telok Blangah ParcView on Telok Blangah St 31
• Havelock View in Alexandra
• The Pinnacle @ Duxton on Cantonment Rd
• City View @ Boon Keng along Boon Keng Rd
• St George's Towers off Serangoon Rd
• SkyTerrace @ Dawson in Queenstown
• Ghim Moh Edge off Commonwealth Ave West

Meanwhile, Stacked recently published a case study of a couple in their early 30s, and serves as an example of how homeowners are becoming more selective right from their first flat purchase, focusing on the development’s potential price appreciation. 

The couple opted for a four-room resale unit at a fairly new BTO development Bedok South Horizon, which started seeing million-dollar resale transactions in early 2026.

This couple make up a majority of buyers (about 69.1 per cent) who did not pay Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) for their resale transactions, according to the PropNex survey.

For those who had to pay additional cash out of their pocket, 11.8 per cent of the buyers paid COV of below $40,000, about 6.4 per cent forked out COV of between $40,000 and less than $80,000, while 3.6 per cent of the buyers paid $80,000 to $100,000 in COV for their flat.

About 5.5 per cent of the buyers reportedly paid COV in excess of $100,000.

With most of these flats transacted without COV, this indicates that the million-dollar HDB resale prices are supported by official valuations.

Proximity to schools ranked low among the pull factors

When asked about the factors that drew them to their purchases, buyer responses include interest in the particular town or neighbourhood, proximity to an MRT station, and a high floor as the leading attractions.

Across the board, the least instrumental factors cited were proximity to good schools, the physical condition of the flat, and being priced out of private homes in the same locale.

Resale market pulled back as price growth trends up

In 2025, the resale market pulled back by 11 per cent y-o-y, dropping from 27,832 transactions in 2024 to 24,784 transactions, with the highest resale price increases for four-room units by 7.1 per cent and seven per cent for the five-room units.

2025 was also the year which saw the end of the selective en bloc redevelopment scheme (Sers), as the government’s focus turned towards developing the framework for the voluntary early redevelopment scheme (Vers).

While million-dollar flats remain an outlier in the broader HDB resale market, they could be increasingly perceived by buyers as a distinct tier. 

This is evident from the exponential increase in the number of such transactions in recent years, driven mainly by changing lifestyle preferences and housing priorities.

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